I use Midland Mainline frequently, on average every other weekend, to travel from London St Pancras to Derby. On the whole I find the service they offer to be acceptable, it is certainly not the worst train company I have travelled with and generally the trains are pretty much on time, or only slightly delayed. They offer complimentary tea and coffee to customers which is a nice touch more train companies should consider (however I often find it difficult to take them up on this offer as it is somewhat difficult to get to the buffet car - see further down the op). The service up to Derby I find to be good because it is so fast, taking just over an hour and half from London. However I do have a few 'complaints' about Midland Mainline.
My first complaint is my biggest gripe about Midland Mainline and that is their railcard policy. I am currently eligible for a young persons railcard, which offers the holder 1/3 off the cost of a rail ticket. However Midland Mainline impose restrictions on the use of these cards, meaning that if I wish to travel out of London on a Friday evening I have to wait until 19.25 before I can leave (or else pay £50 for my journey). This is a policy that I know other train companies used to have but they have since abandoned it, something I suggest Midland Mainline should consider. Firstly it is annoying for the obvious reason that I have to hang around for 2 hours after finishing work before I can even start my journey up to Derby. It also has the added effect that this 19.25 train is always heavily overcrowded as everyone with a Saver ticket piles onto this train. Generally the aisles and doorways are full of people and it is impossible to move from your seat for the majority of the journey (apart from anything else I'm sure this must be some kind of safety hazard).
This leads nicely onto my second complaint, as the train is always so overcrowded I always make a point of booking a ticket and reserving a seat on the train. The first few times that I did this I was reserved a seat in the quiet coach (a coach where the use of mobile phones is prohibited), which was annoying as I have a mobile phone and want to be able to use it on the train. I have since learnt that I must specifically request NOT to be seated in this coach when I book a ticket, which seems ridiculous to me, it would make much more sense if customers requested to BE seated in there, rather than NOT to be seated in there. A further complaint with seat reservations is that a large number of times I have reserved a seat only to find that there have been no seat reservations placed on the train. The reason given for this is always that the machine which prints the reservation tickets has broken, once in a while this would be a plausible reason but as it happens more often than not (and generally on a Sunday) it is fast becoming a reason I am inclined not to believe. If it is the real reason than I suggest that they invest in a new machine as the one they have is clearly useless.
So in summary, Midland Mainline are a pretty average train company. There trains are (generally) clean and comfortable and they offer a (pretty) reliable, fast and frequent service between London and the Midlands. Once you're on the train and have been lucky enough to find yourself a seat than there are no problems with the journey whatsoever. However to improve their service they should definitely review their ticketing and seat reservation arrangements as currently they lack far behind other train companies I have used.
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I've not been a regular train user since the early 80's but frankly nothing seems to have changed except the company names. I was travelling then with an Armed Forces railcard that gave similar discounts but with the same restricitons if travelling via London - a real pain for those of us finishing early on a Friday. Paul.
LostWitness 22.10.2001 15:09
I think most of the rail companies suffer from the same sorts of problem. Whilst cheap fares are nice, restrictive conditions can make them unviable. Good opinion, thanks! :O)
Trev15 22.10.2001 15:01
Sounds like most of the train carriers are sadly lacking in one guise or another. Thankful that I don't need them.
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Oct 22nd, 2001
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